Florida Senate race echoes dissent on GOP future

With a conservative South Carolina senator breaking Republican ranks to endorse Marco Rubio in the Florida U.S. Senate primary, the race between Rubio and Gov. Charlie Crist is becoming a prototype for the battle over the future direction of the Republican Party.

"What happens in Florida is going to have a lot to do with what happens in the nation," South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint said during an interview Tuesday on his endorsement of Rubio. "It's going to help shape the message of our party here in Washington and around the country."

Crist, the frontrunner in the primary, began his campaign last month with prearranged major endorsements from the national party's big names: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Texas' Sen. John Cornyn, chairman of the national party's Senate campaign committee. They said Crist is a sure bet to hold the seat for the party after incumbent Republican Mel Martinez leaves it next year.

However, some on the conservative side of the conservative-moderate battle now going on in the national party see former state House Speaker Rubio as their champion. DeMint has become the first senator to break ranks with the Senate leadership and side with Rubio.

Taking advantage of that, Rubio spent Tuesday in Washington doing a series of news interview calls to hype the DeMint endorsement.

In an interview, DeMint said he has talked to Cornyn and McConnell, and "They're fine with where I'm going. We all realize that a good debate is good for our party and there's never been a better time for a debate about where we are."

George LeMieux, a Crist campaign spokesman, denied that the race was in any way a reflection of an internal Republican Party battle. "This election is going to be about Charlie Crist and whether he has done a good job as governor and can do a good job in Washington," LeMieux said.

"There is no doubt he has a staunch conservative record," he said, citing Crist's work on adoption and gun rights.

DeMint said he has told Crist, "I'm going to be with whoever wins the primary."

However, he said, "I do have a number of people around the country I'm connected with who are willing to help Marco with money and getting the word out. The whole country is interested in this race as people look for an alternative to this big-government approach of President Barack Obama. We need a real Republican and not a Democrat-lite approach."

DeMint said he wasn't swayed by the argument that Crist is a sure bet to win in the November 2010 general election. "I believe that whoever wins the Republican primary will win the Senate seat, whether it's Marco or Charlie Crist," he said.

Asked whether he's comfortable with a "nationalized" primary race viewed as tied to the party's nationwide struggle to choose its identity, Rubio said, "It's impossible to run a race of this sort and not have a national component. The party is in a position where it needs to decide what it's going to stand for."

He added, however, "I'm a U.S. Senate candidate from Florida, and the folks I'm going to focus on are going to vote 14 months from now."